There is no compliment to Helmut Marco for Max Verstappen’s performance in the United States. The Red Bull Racing consultant looks back at the latest race and has to conclude that the Dutchman has actually made great strides in tire management. This became very clear during the race as he went into the second round with high hopes.
“This win in Austin is definitely one of the best races I have ever seen from Verstappen,” the Austrian said in an interview with the Dutch branch. Motorsport.com. That win didn’t come across for sure throughout the race. Marco recalled that the Austrian team was still biting their nails at the initial stage: ‘Initially it was wrong for a while, but after that we were significantly faster than Mercedes.’
Verstappen learns from the mistake in the second step
The tune is well known: Verstappen entered the pit lane relatively early, surprisingly on the 10th lap, Mercedes. The German rivals could not react because Verstappen asked for a lot of tires in the first phase of that second phase. ‘After the first stop, Verstappen really started a little faster,’ Marco analyzes. “It destroyed his own relationships.”
At the end of that second game he lost a lot of time compared to the title contender Lewis Hamilton. If he had made the same mistake a third time, the second time he would have started with a new, tougher rubber, Hamilton might have turned the race in his favor in the final stages. However, Verstappen learned from his mistake during the race, and Marco says with satisfaction: ‘At the second stop, he clearly learned from it. Verstappen deliberately slowed down in the 4th, 5th and 6th turns. He left for half a second.
